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Review: 'ADEY, STEVE'
'These Resurrections (EP)'   

-  Label: 'Grand Harmonium'
-  Genre: 'Folk' -  Release Date: '9th May 2011'-  Catalogue No: 'GH009'

Our Rating:
Steve Adey was born in Birmingham, UK, lived in New York for a while but is now based in Edinburgh.

He cites his experience in America as being particularly important for giving him the confidence to find his own voice yet, paradoxically, it was Adey's interpretations of the songs of others that made his 2006 debut album - All Things Real - so memorable.

On that record, he boldly took on the high risk strategy of covering Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's I See A Darkness and Bob Dylan's Shelter From The Storm and remarkably managed to bring a distinctive perspective to both songs.

The other songs were relatively conventional in their quiet, contemplative quality and while These Resurrections doesn't abandon this style completely, it pushes the envelope in taking on big subjects and adopting a broader and more experimental approach.

This 5 track EP is by way of a sampler for his forthcoming full length album (due in September 2011).

It is only 20 minutes long but effectively whets the appetite for the prospect of hearing the tunes within the epic context they are so clearly a part of.

It opens with Tomorrow (Voice) where a pure voiced choral drone is broken by electric guitar and slightly harsher notes not unlike the disquieting chants in Philip Glass' Koyaanisqatsi.

Infidel (short version) is the centrepiece of the record which, judging from the title and lyrics, seems to be a reflection on the motives behind terrorist atrocities as, for example, with the chilling lines "Why would you kill? What makes a man kill? The colour of your skin explains nothing".

Given the precision of the piano and string arrangement it is surely no coincidence that producer and engineer Calum Malcum has also worked with Blue Nile and Adey's voice bears a striking resemblance to Paul Buchanan.

But while the Glasgow band's songs are a study in calm detachment, Adey adds a more sinister edge to his sound by sharp contrasts in mood.

On Infidel, the minimalist serenity is broken by drums, electric noise and a sampled baritone operatic voice before returning to the former tranquillity as he sings of "a paradise without angels".

The instrumental Soundtrack/One is a haunting string arrangement for cello, violin and viola. This classical tone continues with the title track where Adey's vocals are backed by musical elements from the Hungarian composition 'sonata for cello and piano' by Zoltán Kodály . This song again takes war as a theme, telling of how modern conflict is controlled and influenced by satellites.

The EP ends on an equally melancholic note with Just Wait Till I Get You Home, ostensibly a love song but hardly a very reassuring one.

On this sad ballad Adey sings "the best is already past" but, so far as his music is concerned the exact opposite is closer to the truth.

Steve Adey's website
  author: Martin Raybould

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ADEY, STEVE - These Resurrections (EP)
Cover illustration by Matt Canning